Abstract
Knowledge and curing art of traditional folk medicine on Aguni Island in Okinawa were studied in relation to their practical significance in the present life. Thirteen informants were asked of the semantics and practical use of 12 conceptual words meaning "coolness and/or fatigue" in their traditional etiology. A cluster analysis classified them into three groups: Group A consisting of the words which solely mean "fatigue"; group B of those with more complicated meanings for physical conditions, together with "coolness"; group C of only "siira" which has many meanings concerning unhealthy conditions. The words of groups B and C express more serious conditions to be cured than those of group A. The fact that the words of groups B and C are used less frequently at present suggests that the decrease of their use has taken place in modernization of lifestyle. In regard to their traditional curing art, 24 vernacular names for skin diseases were selected to confirm the symptom contents and concrete ways of treatment. They were classified into five types: use of plants, animals, and other materials; elimination of the affected parts; removal of "bad blood"; magic; and natural cure without any treatment. The curing arts which have been preserved and thus are still used are exclusively practiced by specific curers and their basic concept is dominated by supernatural cosmology.
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